Early events in copper-ion catalyzed oxidation of α-synuclein

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Previous studies on metal-ion catalyzed oxidation of α-synuclein oxidation have mostly used conditions that result in extensive modification precluding an understanding of the early events in this process. In this study, we have examined time-dependent oxidative events related to α-synuclein modification using six different molar ratios of Cu2+/H2O2/protein and Cu2+/H2O2/ascorbate/protein resulting in mild to moderate extents of oxidation. For a Cu2+/H2O2/protein molar ratio of 2.3:7.8:1 only low levels of carbonyls were detected (0.078 carbonyls per protein), whereas a molar ratio of 4.7:15.6:1 gave 0.22 carbonyls per α-synuclein within 15min. With the latter conditions, rapid conversion of 3 out of 4 methionines (Met) to methionine sulfoxide, and 2 out of 4 tyrosines (Tyr) were converted to products including inter- and intra-molecular dityrosine cross-links and protein oligomers, as determined by SDS-PAGE and Western blot analysis. Limited histidine (His) modification was observed. The rapid formation of dityrosine cross-links was confirmed by fluorescence and mass-spectrometry. These data indicate that Met and Tyr oxidation are early events in Cu2+/H2O2-mediated damage, with carbonyl formation being a minor process. With the Cu2+/H2O2/ascorbate system, rapid protein carbonyl formation was detected with the first 5min, but after this time point, little additional carbonyl formation was detected. With this system, lower levels of Met and Tyr oxidation were detected (2 Met and 1 Tyr modified with a Cu2+/H2O2/ascorbate/protein ratio of 2.3:7.8:7.8:1), but greater His oxidation. Only low levels of intra- dityrosine cross-links and no inter- dityrosine oligomers were detected under these conditions, suggesting that ascorbate limits Cu2+/H2O2-induced α-synuclein modification.

Original languageEnglish
JournalFree Radical Biology & Medicine
Volume121
Pages (from-to)38-50
Number of pages13
ISSN0891-5849
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2018

ID: 195759974